A Remarkable Eye
by Metatron85
Summary: Sometimes life comes faster than we can prepare ourselves. But if you have a dream, you'd be surprised what you will endure to live another day to see it happen. Jade West wants to make movies and she won't let anything stand in her way. Eventual Bade romance, plus Cade and Jori friendships.
1. Chapter 1

__**Hello, everybody! Hope everyone had a great holiday!**

**This time I'm getting a little autobiographical. Jade in this story is based upon myself and a lot of what happens here is actually from my childhood all the way to high school. I always liked the angle of Jade being a filmmaker but it was seldom explored other than peripherally. Here I wanted to give a proper backstory to that concept plus it's also a love letter to the cinema in general. Who doesn't like movies, right? And if any of you readers out there have interest in filmmaking will understand Jade right away. **

**So, this is the most personal story I have written. Very close to the chest. So, more so than ever I would really like to hear from all of you. Leave your reviews and tell me what you think. You can always PM me as well.**

**enjoy! **

_"I'm just a storyteller, and the cinema happens to be my medium." – Federico Fellini_

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Jade remembered the day she decided that she wanted to make movies.

It was a sultry August afternoon. Jade had been on summer break but both her parents worked so she was often on her own. One day, she got a special treat when her Nana came over. She loved her so much and they always had the best time. Jade wanted to spend the day with her but Nana had done her best to stay out of the heat.

Nana was reading the newspaper, like she always does when she first comes over and sits down to a cup of tea, when she spotted that on the page opposite the article she was continuing, were the showtimes.

"Jadelyn, sweetheart!"

The seven-year-old Jade came running into the living room.

"Yes, Nana?"

"I have a wonderful idea," she smiled warmly. "Why don't use girls go catch a movie?"

Jade's eyes grew wide like it was the greatest idea she had ever heard.

"Ooohh, that sounds great!"

Nana flips the page to regard the various ads and showings under each one.

"Oh my!" she exclaimed.

_There was hardly anything that sounded appropriate for a child nowadays_, she thought. _Whatever happened to the days when a family could go out to the movies? _Now, everything had ratings and it was just too complicated.

Her finger stopped on the sixth page of the Living section. The Cinemark was having a special re-release of Disney's _Beauty and the Beast_. Something about a new digital mix, _whatever that meant_.

* * *

Jade was absolutely beaming in line, awaiting to get tickets to go and see the movie. It has been her favorite since she had gotten the video for Christmas last year. She hadn't seen it in a while because she wasn't allowed to operate the VCR and mommy and daddy were never home.

"Two adults for _Beauty and the Beast_ please," Nana grinned at the man behind the counter. He looked down at the short Jade trying to be taller by standing on her tippy toes. He rung her up for the one adult and one child admission.

"There you ladies go," handing Nana the tickets. "Two grown up tickets for one great movie."

The two get their stubs torn off and Nana hands Jade hers.

"Now, keep this with you. Put it in your pocket so you don't lose it now. See that man over there?"

Jade looks past her Nana and sees the large man with a rather festive vest.

"His job is to let people in but only if they have their tickets, so hold onto yours. And if you use the bathroom, you have to show him your ticket so you get let back in, okay?"

Jade nods dutifully.

"Want some popcorn? Ah, how about some candy?"

"Yeah," Jade gasped.

"Think your mommy and daddy will mind."

Jade thinks about it and shrugs. "Nope."

After the long line in the concession stand, Jade and her Nana were finally ready to find their theatre. Jade presented her stub to the usher quickly and with a deadly serious expression. She looked like she was handing a police officer her license and registration.

"Number 5," the usher said.

* * *

"Whoa," Jade softly whispered as soon as she entered the big theatre. The 40-ft high white sheet spread along the wall captured her right away.

Nana turns around at her granddaughter. "Jade, are you okay?"

"It's big, Nana." She begins to walk toward it with reverence. "Really big."

"Yup," Nana smiles. "The old big screen."

"But why does it have to be so big, Nana?"

"Because, everyone is here to watch the movie. This way everybody can see it."

The concept had a hard time wrapping itself around Jade's elementary mind. She thinks about why would a bunch of strangers would be watching her favorite movie at the same time she was. She thinks about it as Nana finds them two seats in the center, not too far from the screen and not too close.

Jade was thankful that they could sit down.

Nana was thankful for the air conditioning.

Slowly, the room began to fill up. When it seemed like every seat was finally filled, the lights started to go down.

* * *

The movie played like it always did before. Jade knew the songs and all the characters by heart. But something different happened this time. Before when she would watch the movie, her mother would just put it on and leave the room to do something else and eventually come back in 90 minutes.

It was nothing like watching it on a TV set at home. Not even close. When it got to the part where the angry mob went to storm the Beast's castle, Jade was genuinely thrilled. It was so larger than life. The climactic battle on the castle rooftop was positively epic. Jade cried when Belle held the then dying Beast. But as Jade looked around, she could see other people crying too. Not just kids but also grownups. The whole house was brought down into tears. Jade never saw anything like it before. She didn't know anybody here and yet they were all feeling exactly the same way she was.

* * *

When the lights came up, people began filing out. Nana on the other hand was out like a light, snoring a little loudly.

Jade tried waking her up but she knew Nana was a tough nut to crack when she took her naps. Bored, she sat down and looked at all the words gracing across the screen.

She leaned in close to get it all. It was moving a little too fast for her. There were words like "assistant" and "editor" and all kinds of things that she didn't comprehend. But half of the other lines, she did. They were people's names.

Nana finally snapped out of it and noticed her granddaughter.

"Sorry, babe" rubbing her eyes. "Must have dosed off there."

"It's okay," Jade not acknowledging her because she is too entranced by that rolling series of text.

"Was I snoring?"

Jade held up her thumb and forefinger to suggest "a little bit."

"Nana?"

"Yes, dear?"

"What is that?," she asked pointing to the screen.

"Oh, those are credits."

"What's that?"

"You know…the people who made the movie."

Now that Jade understood, she diligently tried thanking every person she saw. She enjoyed herself and wished she could thank everyone who helped make the movie happen.

She watched those names and remembered the faces of the audience.

_What if _I _was one of those names?_ Jade mused. _What if I was the one that made all those people laugh and cry?_

It was like somebody was reading a story to hundreds of people.

She has watched them on television before but this was the first time Jade experienced a "movie."

That was the day when Jade West got bitten by the bug.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Big shout-outs to Dawnmist of RiverClan and DifferentOne4Ever. Your kind words kept me going while writing this chapter. Please, everyone, if you like it tell me. **

* * *

_"I think the big mistake in schools is trying to teach children anything, and by using fear as the basic motivation. Fear of getting failing grades, fear of not staying with your class, etc. Interest can produce learning on a scale compared to fear as a nuclear explosion to a firecracker." – Stanley Kubrick_

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When Jade entered middle school, she found herself entranced by the school library. There wasn't a public library for miles so access to books were few and far between.

The card catalog was all the way in the back of the massive room. There was a digital catalogue but the computers were always taken by the kids checking their e-mails and social media. So, Jade had to endure the dusty old card drawers.

It didn't take long until she found what she was looking for in the upper 700's.

She eagerly fingered the spines of various performing arts books, everything from singing to puppeteering. Little did she know she would one day experience all she could handle of those two things.

The following title hit her like a boulder: "Making Movies" by Sidney Lumet. She picked it off the shelf and leafed through the pages. It discussed different things, nearly everything one wanted to know. It was a start, she thought. It was then she really looked at the rest of what that shelf had to offer. There were dozens of books on cinematography, screenwriting, acting, makeup, and even a book on special effects. There were also a few books on the history of movies.

Jade knew she had her work cut out for her.

During her tenure at Wrightson Middle School, Jade checked out every book on film and filmmaking at least twice. She even read a dusty old book by some critic named Pauline Kael. Even though she disagreed with her most of the time, she still found her opinions fascinating to read.

These books also mentioned many, many films that Jade never heard of so when a new video rental store opened just a few blocks from her house, her taste in movies really blossomed.

* * *

It wasn't until she turned 13 that she was able to get a rental card of her very own. Unfortunately, it only allowed her to rent certain movies. Luckily a lot of the older movies were either rated PG or had no rating at all. She watched things in black and white, with subtitles, even a few movies with no sound at all.

While she made attempts to see some of the latest movies, Jade was drawn to the titles on the shelves at the video store. These were movies that they didn't make anymore and Jade never understood why. She rented one R-rated movie by sneaking it into another sleeve. It was a movie called _Brazil_. She thought it was amazing; a man retreating into his fantasies to get away from his cold, grey world. When the outside forces of the totalitarian government proved too powerful, the man embraces his own insanity. It was the most twisted happy ending she had ever seen. Jade loved it.

* * *

"Jadelyn," her mother said in a serious tone. "Sit down."

Jade obliged and looked at her dad concerned as he entered the room and sat on the couch far from her mom.

"What's going on?" Jade's voice trembled.

"Your mother and I," Jade's dad dragging out his words. "Are getting a divorce."

This came as no surprise for Jade. They haven't been getting along for the longest time. But deep down she was hoping that they wouldn't because she wasn't looking forward to what would come next.

"What'd gonna happen to me, then?" Jade asked.

Her parents looked at each other.

"Honey," Mr. West began. "I got an offer for a job in Log Angeles. It's a ways away from here."

Jade was aware of the distance but permitted the condescending remark given the circumstances.

"So," Jade's mother butted in. "Since you were going to be affected by school and friends…"

_What friends?,_ Jade thought.

"…We thought it would be fair to you if you decided where you wanted to live."

_You mean who do I like most?_

"We thought it would be best if we kept the courts out of this," her dad added. "Not make this a long drawn-out thing."

Jade crossed her arms and looked at one and then the other. She sighed and really considered about her options. It was either a little town with nothing here for her or the location of Hollywood.

Maybe it wasn't _that_ difficult of a decision.

* * *

"So, you're going with him?" Jade's mother asked leaning on the frame of her bedroom door.

Jade looked up with some clothes in hand.

"Yeah, I guess."

Her mom folds her arms and shrugs "Something wrong with me?"

"Please don't do this," Jade pleaded more with her eyes than with her tone. Her voice was more like "back off."

"I'm serious; why don't you want to live with me?"

"Mom," Jade dropping a box, the contents spilling onto the carpet. "Shit." She covers her mouth when she remembers her mom is right there. "Look, can you please drop it?"

Jade's mother notices the posters on the wall as her daughter starts taking them down. "I get it."

Jade looks back at her mom, contritely as she rolls up her _The Scissoring _poster. She learned that the proper way to store posters is to roll them, not fold them.

"What?" Jade asked.

"This shit again?" pointing to the posters.

Jade then remembered something about her mom she didn't like. Her dad was indifferent to her dreams but at least that was preferable to having her stomp on them.

"Why would you say that?" Jade wounded.

"This isn't normal, Jade! Jesus, no wonder you have a hard time at school. Going to the movies by yourself; it's pathetic."

"I'm not antisocial," Jade furrowing her brow. "I just haven't found people I liked yet."

"Save it," her mom holding up her hand. "How the hell can you make any friends and have any semblance of a life unless you get your head out of the clouds?"

Jade continued to act busy. "It may seem pointless to you, mom. But it's not to me."

"You're thirteen, Jadelyn!"

She sucked her teeth at the sound of her full name. she detested it.

"My god," her mother went on. "Do you wonder what my life would be like if I stood by every decision I made at thirteen?"

"I'm not gonna grow out of it," Jade standing her ground. "It's what I want to do. Nothing's gonna change that."

"Life can get in the way, you know."

"I won't allow it."

Her mother sighs and turns to leave the room. "Then I hope you're prepared to be very lonely."

Jade growls and kicks her suitcase off the bed.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Big shout-out to SKRowling for your continued support of my stuff. I hope everything goes well with your venture but no matter how big you get, make the time to read my stories, please. **

* * *

_"Reality is something that none of us can stand, at any time." - _ Alfred Hitchcock

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The move to L.A. was done in stages over the better part of a week. Jade's father had to get the furniture delivered in one day, they had to bring their own stuff, and various kinds of paperwork. The last, not the least, was Jade's enrollment in her new school.

She would be moving onto the ninth grade so Mr. West was perusing high schools in the area. Jade had her eyes set on a performing arts school called Hollywood Arts. It sounded good; the alumni were a who's who of celebrities. While it had acting, theatre, writing, dancing, and other classes like that; it functioned much like a regular high school. There was history, math and other stuff. It sounded perfect but you could only be admitted when you auditioned. Jade sulked. She imagined herself like one of the kids at Julliard in _Fame_ but now it didn't look like a reality.

Summer break was still going on. Jade had a solid thirty days before being admitted to Woodrow Wilson High. Could be worse; Northridge would've been the next choice but even her father caught wind of its reputation.

* * *

Jade's father spent most of his time at work. When he finally got home, he barely acknowledged her. Luckily, she knew how to make her own breakfast, lunch and dinner. Sometimes, she would leave something out for her dad to reheat. She knew deep down he appreciated it but he would come home so tired he would collapse soon after eating what little he could muster.

She tried calling her mother but the number had been deactivated. On a few occasions, Jade sent letters to her mom but got no responses. It didn't take her long to figure out that she left that house and started over again somewhere apparently she didn't want her own daughter to know about. She wondered if she would acknowledge this insignificant part of her life, if not in conversation, then perhaps in her thoughts.

Still without a car of her own, she found L.A.'s public transportation service not the greatest. While the busses came frequently, they were overcrowded and it seemed like the people got creepier and creepier. Jade wasn't dumb. Despite not having her mom around, she was well aware of her…changes. She was maturing; some in very subtle ways and others, not so much. Jade knew to be cautious at strangers and their wandering eyes. They might just be looking but you never know when you encounter that one lone nut.

Naturally, Jade spent much of her time home. To preserve her sanity, she signed up for Webflicks. It was a service where she could rent movies through the mail and online. It was a treasure trove of titles that had been crowding up her watch list. They had the weird stuff; the movies that her old video store didn't carry. She was primarily fascinated with art films like _Arabian Nights _and _Fellini Satyricon_. _What was with these Italian filmmakers and all this nudity?_ she thought.

But the movie _Eraserhead _was a turning point. It was creepy and uncomfortable and she didn't understand it. It was like being inside somebody's nightmare. Jade was so floored by this director she checked out some of his other movies. _This Lynch guy has a few issues_, she decided. She saw what a lot of these really good art films had in common was a hidden hostility. They embraced the ugliness of life and made something surrealistically grotesque.

_El Topo_, _Videodrome_, and a silent movie called_ Haxan._ These off kilter films really diversified her palate. It really got interesting when the arthouse and horror combined. That was why she loved _The Scissoring_. It led her to the filmography of Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci and the early films of Peter Jackson. They were shot like an artsy flick but were gory and insane and sometimes funny.

Jade was mad when she found out about an odd German movie called _Nekromantik_. It was on everybody's list of disturbing movies and she heard a little about the plot and it fascinated her how sick it sounded. But Webflicks didn't carry it.

* * *

Jade's father came home early one day and dropped his briefcase in the foyer.

"Jade?"

Not in the living room.

"Jade, where are you?"

Not in the kitchen.

"There you are," opening the door to her room. She gives him a cross look because he didn't knock first but hesitated when she saw his face.

"What's up?"

"I…I got fired today."

Jade shook her head. "What? Why?"

"My partner and I lost the Macgregor Account. Boss wanted to make an example and he chose me because he liked the other guy more."

Jade took a deep breath and let it go. "So, what do we do?"

"It will be okay, Jade. I'll think of something."

* * *

In about two weeks, the land line was shut off. The heat soon followed. By the end of the month, the power went.

One rainy morning, they were forced out of the house. They only had time to load the car with what they could fit. Jade saved her posters, a couple of books, some clothes, and a binder with an untitled script she had started. She made a point to wear her favorite boots out; she didn't care about her other shoes.

To make matters worse, the whole neighborhood was watching as the Wests were being put out on the street.

Jade's dad drove for about forty minutes before finding a motel with a vacancy. The manager checked them in and from the window of the office, her could see their car. Clearly a father and a daughter with a vehicle stuffed to the brim with stuff, not luggage. It didn't take him long to size up the situation.

"How long were you planning to stay?" asked the manager with a stank on the question.

"Make it five," checking his wallet. "Four days."

"Here's your key and checkout will be Friday morning at 11."

Mr. West nods and returns to the car in shame. Jade felt bad because her dad wasn't egocentric but he did have his pride. And he was swallowing it whole right now.

"It's only gonna be temporary, Jade" his voice feigned to be reassuring.

Jade nods and then after they park in front of their accommodations, she breaks her silence. "Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Are we gonna be okay?" Jade clutched her binder to her chest. Holding the dream close to her heart.

"I hope so," he sighed.

Jade threw her binder in an open box next to her.

_Later._

_Maybe._


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thanks to everyone that favorited and reviewed so far. Love to hear from more of you. Please don't be shy and tell me if you're liking it!**

* * *

"The optimists are incapable of understanding what it means to adore the impossible." - Orson Welles

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Jade laid on the bed closest to the window while her dad was passed out on the other one. He had been to 2 job interviews and filled applications to about a dozen other places. No call backs.

She stared out through the cheap, shabby curtains to the night sky. Jade liked cloudy days but preferred the way the sky looked at night. Grey tufts of clouds, looking like smoke and the sky behind them was a deep purplish brown. No stars visible past the artificial lights of L.A. below but the moon was out. Ever since she was very little Jade enjoyed tracking the moon. If you focused hard enough on it, the rock looked like it was moving and not the clouds in the opposite direction.

It took her mind off things for a while.

Jade laid out the scenario in her head. Not every movie was made the same way but they had common traits. The two biggest things were money and people.

_I'm broke and alone. _

_Fuck._

A review for a movie from one of those critic books she had stuck in her mind. In said that when perhaps the reason this particular movie didn't work was that the director was blind to his lack of talent. His insistence that he was meant to do something was so strong he believed it. He ignored everyone else and went on his gut. And his career fizzled and was never revived.

Jade really started thinking about this. Could she have been wrong? Was an encyclopedic fascination mistaken for ambition? Was she really equipped to become a great filmmaker or was she fooling herself? Clearly the odds were stacked against her.

Maybe she was one of the millions who leave a theatre thinking _I can make a better one_ and never follow through.

Sticking out of her backpack Jade noticed a book she surprisingly hadn't read before. It was a movie book her Nana gave her shortly before she passed. It was about independent film. She shrugged and laid back down to read it by the meager lamplight.

Jade was absolutely inspired. She read a chapter about how Kevin Smith funded his first movie for $27,000 through loans and credit cards. She then read about how Robert Rodriguez got the money to help make _El Mariachi_ by selling his body to science in the form of testing out pharmaceuticals. And before _Roger& Me _was picked up for distribution by Warner Bros. Michael Moore raised the money for his documentary by having basement bingo games.

The book was filled with creative ways about how these nobodies with no formal education or connections managed to get their films made and some of them were sold to major studios. But the important thing is that they were made. These directors had an itch to make a movie and they didn't give up.

Jade decided then and there that neither was she. It wasn't going to happen tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the next day. But sometime down the line she will make it. She can't think of how yet but maybe that's the fun of it. After all, it helps to look forward to something.

Life was certainly not going to get any easier.

* * *

Jade was woken up with the sound of metallic clicking sounds. She looked at the door and saw that someone was trying to get in. Her dad had already left for another job interview so she was by herself. Jade, lost for a weapon, unplugged the alarm clock and wrapped the cord around her arm. The clock dangled like a medieval mace.

She held it up high and opened the door with her free hand. Jade screams like a madwoman and is startled by a redheaded girl screaming right back at her.

"Who the hell are you?" Jade pressed.

"Cat." She tried to look past Jade. "Why are you in my room?"

Jade looked at the door and back at the very confused girl. "This isn't your room."

"Oh, my god, that must be why my key doesn't work."

_Is this girl for real?_

"Sorry if I woke you and scared you," she said cheerily. "Bye."

Jade leans her head outside, watching the bubbly fiery-haired girl skipping down to the next cabin.

"Okay," Jade said to herself. "That was my daily dose of weird this morning."

* * *

Jade watched TV into the afternoon. She was achingly bored. Checking the time on her phone again, she wondered what was keeping her father.

A knock at the door made Jade mute the TV and walk toward it.

"Who is it?" she yelled, not ready to open it yet.

"It's Cat."

"Who?"

"You know, from this morning…"

_What the hell?_

"Hang on," Jade responded while unlocking the door.

The petite girl was still wearing that goofy grin.

"Hey…I didn't get your name."

"Jade."

"Hey, Jade! It's a nice name."

"Thanks…Cat, right?"

She nods.

"So," Jade began.

"So," Cat parroted.

"Why did you come over here?"

"Oh, right! I wanted to know if you wanted to hang out."

Jade squinted her eyes. "Why?"

"I'm bored," she sighed. "I didn't see anyone else around here my age except for you." Her happy face began to melt. "But you're probably busy…"

"You know what?" Jade looked around, searching for her own sanity. "I'm bored, too. What'd you have in mind?"

* * *

Cat took Jade to a new mall. It was all indoors like the larger ones but this one was very tiny. It had only twenty stores in it. There was an arcade, a music store, eight clothing stores, a pet store, a phone store, a bookstore, and even a pharmacy. The rest of the units were closed off, either under construction or haven't been rented yet.

"So," Cat asked after finding Jade in the promenade. she hands her one of the ice creams she was holding. "You on vacation?"

"Huh?"

"The motel; you on vacation here?"

Jade looked down at the floor. "Uh…no. My dad and I are kinda in between houses right now."

"Oh," Cat simply responded and started diligently eating her ice cream.

"And what about you?"

"Well, my brother brought home an ant farm." She licked her frozen treat. "But they weren't ants."

"What were they?"

"I dunno," Cat shrugged. "All I know is that they were poisonous and all over the house so they had to spray it."

"Mm-hmm. So how much longer you have to stay away?"

"My mom says we can move back in at the end of the week. You should totally come over!"

"I might do that," Jade lied. She had no idea where she was going to end up but she figured to let the redhead think she made a friend. Hell, the space case was kind of growing on her.

* * *

They actually had a decent time, mostly window-shopping. Jade was actually happy for a change, at least for a little while. She frowned when Cat walked her back to her door and her dad's car still wasn't there.

_What is going on?_

"Excuse me, Miss?"

Jade turned around and saw the motel manager walking up the way.

"I noticed you were entering this room. We've been trying to call it all day."

"I was out," Jade said softly. "What's this about?"

"Mr. West, the man who rented this cabin, he is relation to you right?"

"Yeah," Jade dragged out the word, stating the obvious. "He's my father. Why?"

"You might want to come with me."

Cat grabbed Jade's arm. "I'll go with you."

"Alright," Jade said. She figured it was probably a good idea to have company. She turned back to the manager. "Is he okay?"

"Something happened," he gravely stated. "Let's talk in my office where it's private."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry this chapter's kind of short. I couldn't think of anything that fit to make this one go longer like the others. I felt a transition was necessary. Thanks so much for all your nice reviews and the most recent follows and favorites. That stuff keeps me going!**

* * *

"Whenever I get happy, I always have a terrible feeling." – Roman Polanski

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Jade stared at the motel manager, whose nameplate on his desk reads Barry Ullman. And Mr. Ullman stared right back, obviously looking for the words before he utters a single one.

The tension of this scene is punctuated by the ticking of the clock on the wood panel wall. Around the plain white clock was a bunch of photographs and a giant eagle eye of the motel property. Sufficed to say, there was plenty to keep Jade's new friend Cat Valentine occupied.

"Your father…" Ullman rubbed his hands nervously. "There's been an accident."

Jade couldn't feel the chair underneath her anymore. "What?"

"There was a run-in with a tractor trailer. Your father's car was totaled."

Her head dropped between her knees, the lump in her throat pulsating. Cat instinctively started rubbing her back.

Ullman was about to say something else but Jade's painful screams shook him back into his chair silently.

* * *

"You don't have to stay here," Jade softly said to Cat while staring at the ceiling.

"No," the little redhead folded her arms, looking at her friend. She was like a new doll she played with and became broken too soon. "You shouldn't be alone right now. Besides I talked with my parents; they said it was okay."

Jade dutifully wiped the tears forming in her eyes like she's been doing for hours. "Fine."

"I was gonna go get something to eat from the Quik Stop across the street. Can I get you something?"

"Not hungry."

Cat laid on the bed next to Jade and hugged her.

"I thought you were going out," Jade said.

"That's okay. I'll stay here."

"Cat?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

* * *

Jade woke up in the middle of the night, flushed. She looked over to the bed next to hers. Cat was passed out on top of the covers bathed in the glow of the television. Jade grabbed the remote on the nightstand in between and switched it off. She opened the drawer to put it away when she noticed a yellow folded piece of paper. It said "Jade" on it. She cautiously took the paper and brought it into the bathroom where the light was better and she didn't have to wake Cat.

She held her hand in front of the sudden sting of the fluorescents. Once her eyes adjusted, she sat on the toilet lid and unfolded the paper.

A note. It was her dad's handwriting.

_Jade, _

_Please forgive me. _

_I have tried to be a father to you but I can't get over this feeling like I failed you._

_I drove your mother away and now we don't have a home._

_I can't see much in the future…_

The letter just stopped there. He must not have finished it.

Or maybe he had.

These words written with black ink were the last words her father shared with her. Jade let the note drop to the tiled floor. She hugged herself and sobbed hard as it landed face down, only her name showing on the back.

* * *

When the end of the week came, Jade knew she had to get her stuff and leave.

_What am I doing? Where am I gonna go?_

Jade plopped on a bus stop bench. She had her backpack and duffle. The note from her father was in her jacket pocket.

"Jade!"

She looked to the familiar voice coming from her left.

"What are you doing?"

Jade locked eyes with Cat.

"Well, the room is unrented now. Can't stay there anymore, right?"

Cat sits next to her. "Don't do this to yourself."

"Cat," leaning back folding her arms. "I appreciate you being there but I can't ask any more from you."

"You didn't have to ask; it was _my_ idea." Cat stared down at her feet and then at Jade's luggage. "Please think about it."

Jade sighed. "Can't you wait for my decision?"

The bus crept up the road approaching the stop.

"No," Cat responded.

"Cat…"

"My mom would like to have you and dad said it wouldn't be any trouble. We have the space."

Jade buried her head in her hands, running her fingers through her raven locks. Cat looks away from her when the bus arrives. After a few seconds it departed. Cat looked back and saw Jade holding out her duffle bag.

"Help me carry this junk back to your room, will ya?"

"Yay," she squealed with delight like a little kid.


	6. Chapter 6

"What is really important to me is a sense of humor and a mischief about life. Life is just too boring otherwise." - Mira Nair

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Jade stood in the doorway of Cat's room, in awe of its pink walls and raspberry furniture. If Cat had any political ambitions, she could easily be the mayor of Candyland.

"Oh…my…god," Jade said out loud to herself. "Am I staying here?"

"No," Cat giggled. "You got your own room."

"Where is it?" Jade looked around.

Cat immediately took her hand and dragged her down the hall. "Here!"

Cat opened the door and Jade was once again floored.

"What the…?"

"You're wondering why the walls are black?"

"Uh, yeah."

"My mom used to do photography. This was her office. She made it up so it could double as a darkroom."

Cat turned to her friend. "You hate it?"

"No," Jade grinned. "I like it."

"There's a desk over there," Cat pointed. "It was the only thing left from mom's office. A while ago she changed it into a guest room." Cat shrugged, "It's yours now."

Jade dropped her baggage onto the twin bed. "Cat, this is too much."

"Will you stop it!" Cat shouted. She grabbed Jade's hands and began twirling around. The brunette pulled away before she got dizzy. "This'll be great! I always wanted a sister."

"I guess you'd be my first sibling, too" Jade said.

Cat made a mini applause and squealed.

Jade closed one eye, looking at her roomie quizzically. "You do this a lot?"

"Do what?"

"Nothing," Jade drew her attention to unpacking.

"Dinner will be in a little bit."

"Okay."

Jade sat down and gave a quick scan of her new room in her new home.

"Well, dad; it's certainly a step forward."

* * *

Jade climbed down the stairs to the living room where the Valentines were seating at the table. Cat's father motioned for Jade to take the extra chair in between Cat and her brother, Nick. He stares at Jade almost intently.

"Cat," Jade groaned. "He's doing it again."

"Nick!"

Cat's brother looked up at his mother apologetically. "What'd I do?"

"We don't stare at people. It's…weird. Even for this house." She smiles at Jade.

Jade held back her laughter. Cat raised her salad fork and pointed it at Nick.

"You better be nice, Nick!"

He holds up his hands and feigns to look somewhere else.

"So, Jade" Cat's father began while sitting down. "Going to high school this fall?"

Jade nodded, "I guess so."

"Hope that you will be classmates with Cat…"

"Dad," Cat interrupted. "She isn't going to Hollywood Arts."

That instantly got Jade's attention. "What?"

"Yeah," Cat said softly as she pushed her food around. "I was accepted as a singer and actress."

"What does that mean?"

"It means you have to audition," Cat's mom said as she finally joined the rest of them.

"What kind of things do they look for?" Jade's tone was getting more and more anxious.

Cat shrugged. "I dunno. Anything I guess as long as it's done well. Like there was one kid with a ventriloquist dummy. He was kinda cute."

"The boy or the dummy?" Nick asked. The table laughed at that. Cat just gave him a look.

"I was thinking about going…" Jade unable to finish that sentence.

"Do you have anything to show them?" Cat's dad asked. Cat was very interested.

"Sort of," Jade looking down. "It was a kind of film."

"Oh," Mrs. Valentine said genuinely. "That sounds exciting."

"It's nothing great, just a short thing."

"Tell us about it, Jade" Cat pressed.

"Hon," her dad sounding very fatherly. "If Jade doesn't want to share it with us right now…"

"No, it's okay" Jade responded. "Let me go get it," she added wiping her mouth and excusing herself from the table.

A few minutes later she returned with a box. She removed the lid and took out a stack of photographs.

"Oh my," cat's mom uttered as she leafed through them. "These are very…good. You did these all yourself?"

Jade nodded, "Yeah. I was thinking about doing what that French filmmaker did when he made a short film that was all still pictures."

"They do kinda tell a story," Cat's father added.

"I just wanted to set them to music and put them in order on a DVD." Jade turned to Cat. "Will you help me?"

"You don't have to ask," Cat smiled back.

* * *

The last open house for tours and auditions into Hollywood Arts was the following week. Jade held the jewel case containing the DVD-R that decided her future.

She heard her name called and walked toward the seated faculty. One man was tall with a nice smile and about the largest bottle of hand lotion she'd ever seen. The other one was a bald man with a beard, sipping a coconut through a straw. His expression and hippie-like garb just screamed pharmaceutical experimentation. But Jade was still respectful because he was a teacher here and one of the deciders.

Jade played her disc on the DVD player connected to a hanging video projector. The film showed, all 12 minutes of it. This meager audience would forever be remembered in Jade's mind as her first public performance. The two men watched closely and whispered to each other for most of the length. When the short concluded, the bald man (called himself, no joke, Sikowitz) shook Jade's hand and told her that she would get a response from the school whether she got accepted.

She was nervous as she walked toward Cat.

"Well," the redhead asked as she got up from her bench.

"They said they'd get back to me," Jade sighed.

"Do you think they liked it. I bet they liked it," she smiled warmly.

"They didn't look bored," Jade shrugged. "We'll just have to see, won't we?"

* * *

Back at the Valentine residence, Jade finally put up her last poster. It took a while for her to figure out how she wanted her new room to be laid out. it was perfect. But she wouldn't be caught dead saying that out loud.

"Jade."

She turned around and saw Cat's dad standing in the doorway.

"There's somebody here to see you."

Jade followed him downstairs toward the foyer by the front door. Who she saw standing there made her heart drop like it was made of lead.

"Mom?"

* * *

**A/N: Well, this is an interesting development. Not to worry, I will update very, very soon.**

**By the way, that French film Jade was referring to is the 1962 French short LA JETEE by Chris Marker. Interestingly enough, the movie 12 MONKEYS with Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt was inspired by that little film. **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Shout-outs to boughtthedream, Dawnmist of RiverClan, DifferentOne4Ever, hanahanimon, Jeremy Shane, katntia, khay, and SKRowling.**

**Your kind words and enthusiasm keep me going and really want me to make this story better. I find myself writing a chapter and then redoing it because I know you all deserve it. Please share this story with your friends. I want to hear from more of you!**

* * *

"If you've ever had that feeling of loneliness, of being an outsider, it never quite leaves you." - Tim Burton

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"What are you doing here?"

Jade's mom walked up to her, holding her purse. "I've come to get you. I heard about what happened. It took me a while to find you."

"Mom," Jade on the verge of tears. "I called you and called you…."

She shook her head. "My phone was deactivated. I forgot the plan was in your father's name and when they cancelled his credit card, it went off." Her mom pulled out a little red flip phone. It _was_ a different phone than she last remembered.

"So what now?" Jade crossed her arms.

"I've gotten a job working at a bank. I have a condo in Fresno. We can live together."

"Fresno? That's like three hours away, mom."

"I know, Jade" she held her daughter's face in her hands. "I know how much you were looking forward to moving to L.A., but you're only fourteen. You're still a minor and you need a guardian."

Jade looked desperately at Mr. and Mrs. Valentine.

"What is she doing here?" Cat came back from an errand and recognized the matriarch West from an old picture.

"Cat," hand on her shoulder. "This is my mom. She wants me to come live with her."

"No," Cat shaking her head. "You can't." Tears began to form. Jade was feeling the waterworks washing up to the surface as well. Her friend, her new family, her dream.

"But mom," Jade choked on her words. "What about school? I auditioned for Hollywood Arts. I might have a chance…"

"Jadelyn!" Her mom covered her mouth and lowered her tone. "When you move out when you're old enough, you can do whatever you want. But you're still a minor and I'm still your mother, despite how your father and I didn't get along. I'll be damned if you're going to a foster home."

"I'll…" Cat wiped her eyes. "I'll help you get your things Jade." Her happy demeanor had melted away and she spoke with a monotone. Jade followed her, looking back sadly at her mother.

* * *

"It's not fair, Jade" Cat sat on the edge of the bed staring at the wall.

"I know. Just when I thought things were getting better…" Her face contorted, the sadness rushing through her body. Cat ran up to her and hugged her tightly. Her grip was telling Jade that she would not let go. Ever.

"Cat, please…"

"Jade…"

She reciprocated the hug and the two held onto each other, crying.

"I'll try to visit," Jade told Cat's ear.

"Promise?"

"Of course."

"But Jade, what about Hollywood Arts?"

"I'll have to forget about it. Besides, they probably didn't want me anyways."

Cat broke free from the hug and ran from the room like a shot. She returned with a stuffed giraffe.

"Here," the redhead handed to the brunette.

"What is this?"

"Mr. Purple. He _used_ to be my best friend."

Those words cut through Jade's heart like a knife.

"I can't take him, Cat."

"Yes you can."

"But you love him."

"I love you too. You're the sister I never had and probably never will. I know I won't forget you."

"But…"

"This way I'm sure you won't forget me."

"Cat, I…" She stopped from saying any more when her friend looked like she was about to collapse. "Thank you," Jade simply said hugging the purple animal.

* * *

Jade went through the motions that were all too familiar. Her belongings were in boxes and modest bags once more. This time it seemed like she had even less to take with her. It seems like she loses more with every move.

She gets into the car and holds her hand on the window, mouthing goodbye to the Valentines.

After giving Cat's mom her new address where she can forward Jade's mail, she joins her daughter in the car.

The big house disappeared like someone was waking Jade from a sweet dream. And that someone was driving silently the whole time.

* * *

The white front door opened and the ladies filed in.

"I'm really tired," her mom nonchalantly stated as she moved to the stairs. "I'm going to bed."

"Where do I sleep?" Jade's question was answered by the closing of a door down the hall.

Jade sighs. "Night, mom."

She crashed on the couch because she too was tired from impromptu packing and the long car ride. It took some time for her to really go to sleep, though. Remembering Cat's going away gift, Jade took out Mr. Purple and hugged him, thinking of her friend and how much she missed her already.

* * *

The next morning, Jade made her way into the kitchen to make something for breakfast. She checked the fridge. Eggs. Potatoes. _We're in business._

While one skillet fried the eggs, Jade quickly sliced up two potatoes. After putting the spuds on the heat, her mom entered fully dressed with a cup of coffee.

"Morning," she said after clearing her throat.

"Hey," Jade not acknowledging her, focusing on the stove.

Jade's mom took a long sip. "Sleep alright?"

Jade nods. "Where is my room?"

"Yeah, about that. I need time to work on it. I only _just_ found you. Didn't really think everything through."

Jade sized up the situation. "There's no second bedroom, is there?"

Her mom breathes in and out deeply and slowly. "No."

"So why the hell am I here? If there was no room…"

"I'm not gonna lose you again, Jade. I'll think of something. What's important is that we are together. What's the time?"

Jade checked the clock. "8:35"

"Gotta go to work. I'll see you later on. Tomorrow, we can enroll you into high school here. It's not far. "

"Fine," Jade whispered taking her food off the burners.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Those who thought the previous chapter was a buzz kill; we're gonna go darker than that now. I feel obligated to warn you that there may be triggers in this chapter. I'm not very good at gauging what is and isn't triggering. **

**SPOILER ALERT: If you happen to be someone who has had a traumatic experience with domestic abuse; please PM me and I can offer you a summary of this chapter so you can continue following the story. **

**Thank you and keep letting me know how it's going. **

* * *

"Being an artist means not having to avert one's eyes." - Akira Kurosawa

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Jade spent the better part of the day writing her script. She still didn't have a computer so she wrote in longhand on regular ruled paper. She spaced it out in a way so that it mirrored screenplay format. Luckily she had the foresight to put her story in a binder so that printed pages could be mixed with the handwritten loose leaf ones.

She checked the clock every half hour and her mom still hasn't come home or so much as called. When it was getting past seven, Jade took the initiative to start making dinner. She found some lettuce, tomatoes and leftover cheese so she fashioned a simple salad. There was no dressing around so she tossed it in some olive oil she found in one of the cupboards.

Once Jade sat down at the meager place setting at the table in the kitchen, the front door burst open. Her mom closed the door with her back leaning on it. As it clicked shut, she focused her gaze on Jade and sneered at her daughter.

"What are you doing?" her words were less clear than normal like they were all running together.

_Are you fucking serious? _Jade thought.

"I was eating dinner…"

"You made _me_ dinner?"

"Uh…no. I didn't kn…"

Jade's mom let out a yell and knocks over the umbrella stand.

"Isn't that fucking typical." The hate spewed out from her clenched teeth. "Jadelyn only thinking of her little self!"

"But I…"

Jade's retort was intercepted by a smack to the jaw. Falling to the floor, she remembered just how strong she was. Renee West was not a weak woman. Ironically, this right now was not one of her strong moments.

"I'm sorry," Jade uttered while holding the right side of her face. "I'm very sorry."

"You're just like you fucking father, you know that?"

_Why would she say these things? Why would she DO these things?_

Jade clutches the chair to help herself from off the floor as her mom continued, "No wonder why you wanted to live with that son of a bitch; you're the same."

"Mom, please" Jade's tone was truly that of pleading. "Go to bed. You're drunk. You need to rest. "

Renee grabbed her daughter's forearm and spun her around in a rough imitation of a police hold. "You listen to me. I'm the adult, okay? You're the child, okay?" Jade nodded each time. "You don't goddamn tell me about anything; you know nothing!"

"Mom," Jade's tears unable to hold back any longer. "You're hurting me. Stop."

Her mom pushed Jade onto the table, knocking the salad bowl onto the floor.

"I don't need this shit," she mumbles as she leaves the room. Jade began cleaning up when she heard her mom's final words that night. "That mess in the kitchen had better be cleaned!"

* * *

And so it went on like that for three months. Nearly every other day, Jade's mom would come home from drinks with the other ladies at work and she would unload verbally and sometimes physically on her only daughter.

Jade persevered. It _was_ her mother after all and things hadn't been easy for her.

One thing she learned about alcoholism in articles she read was that when we are uninhibited, out true selves bubble to the surface. That is why someone drunk or drugged can be very persuasive with secret information. Jade allowed herself to be a human punching bag on a regular basis because she knew that much of what her mother said was based on reality.

Jade _did_ turn her back on her trying to pursue a silly one in a billion dream.

_This must be my atonement_, she thought.

Don't get her wrong, Jade did her best to ease the suffering on her end. She would make sure that when she got home from school to have her homework done and have the condo looking spotless. She made damn sure that her mother had little to no burdens when she either walked or dragged herself through that door.

One night, she was struck just trying to help her up. Another time, her mother threw up and the gave Jade the business for having a mess on the carpet.

Trying to be one step ahead of her violent anger forced Jade to become meticulous with details like how things are arranged on shelves. She also became more astute when gauging her mom's emotions. You hear how some are good at reading people; Jade was an expert on the many shades of Renee West. She knew when to approach her and when to keep far away.

Like the song said: _Like a prima ballerina, I tip toe, tip toe around you constantly…Hope to God you had a good day._

One thing she never did after that first night, Jade never mentioned film or filmmaking. Deep down, after her mom would pass out, she would either work on her script, watch a movie or read one of her books. She did her best to keep the fire alive despite the extinguisher down the hall.

Just like back at that motel, Jade had no idea when or if her dreams would ever come true. But she had to look forward to something. Some spark had to driver her. Otherwise, she would have pushed her mother during one of her episodes a long time ago. It wouldn't have been pretty by any stretch but to end up stabbed or strangled at the end of that argument was appealing.

Suicide (by provocation) was definitely a sure fire way to destroy everything she has dreamed of doing. But, still. There were times when Jade would opt to feel for nothing at all than all this pain.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: New followers and reviewers every day! It's a dream come true. I'm chuffed to bits as they say in the UK. You people make it possible for me to live the dream. I don't care how corny it is but I tell everyone I know that I am a published author and I gather the best audience in the world!**

**Keep reading and I'll keep writing ;-)**

* * *

"Everybody's a mad scientist, and life is their lab. We're all trying to experiment to find a way to live,

to solve problems, to fend off madness and chaos." - David Cronenberg

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

Cat sat in her final period class; usually getting there early. She stared at the empty chair next to her, waiting for someone to come in and sit there. Her heart shatters when some other student sits in it.

After spending most of the time doodling in her trapper keeper, the bell tone echoes throughout the building and everyone runs out. Cat eventually makes her way to the hall.

* * *

Cat shut the door and threw her bag down in the foyer. She crashed on the couch and watched some stupid reality TV show when her mom came walking in.

"Hey, sweetheart."

"Hey," she softly responded.

"How was school?"

"Okay," Cat shrugged.

"You're not tired, are you?"

Cat looked up at her mom for the first time, confused. "Huh?"

"Well, I was thinking we would take a car ride. Surprise somebody with a little visit," she produced a stack of mail. "Maybe drop these off."

Her daughter's face lit up and she wrapped her arms tightly around her.

"When are we going?" Cat asked.

"Is now good for you?"

"What about dinner?"

"I think the boys can fend for themselves for one night." Her mom peered in the kitchen. "I'll leave some menus out."

* * *

Jade was working on her script in the living room when the door opened.

_Shit. She's early._

"Well what are you looking at?"

Jade contritely went back to what she was doing.

"You ignoring me?"

"I wasn't," making sure she was looking her in the eye.

"Did your homework?"

"Yes mom."

"What is that?"

"It's, um, a project…"

Her mom saw right through her. "Bullshit. You think I don't remember than binder?"

"It's not what you think," Jade closed it and tried to hide it but her mother snatched it. "It's for school."

"Don't you fucking lie to me!" She leafs through the pages and slams it shut. "Again with this pie in the sky bullshit?!"

"It's not bullsh-" her mother's hand stopped the progression of that sentence. Jade slumped over the seat of the couch, crying.

"Look at yourself, whimpering…like a small child." Jade was now looking at her mother standing over her brandishing the white binder. She shut her eyes as it came crashing down like a hammer.

"it's all…"

And again.

"a fucking…"

And again.

"fantasy…"

And again.

"You need…"

And again.

"to grow…"

And again.

"the hell up!"

"What the hell are you doing?" a familiar maternal voice countered the threatening one.

Cat ran over to her friend on the floor. "Oh my God, Jade!" She checks her hair. "You're bleeding."

"What are you doing in my house?" Renee West's anger was rising.

"Getting here just in time," Cat's mom scolded. "How could you?"

"Don't fuck with me, bitch." She throws the binder in her hands into the lit fireplace in disgust.

Jade's eyes burned and she pushed her friend aside, scrambling to save her script.

"Jade, don't" Cat shouted.

She reached into the burning ember, shrieking horribly at the feeling. Jade could smell her own skin burning but her mind was blank. She finally got hold of the square shape but it was half disintegrated. And the portion she managed to grasp started to fly apart like leaves in a wind.

"I'LL KIL YOU!" Jade screamed at the top of her lungs. She clawed at her mother with her heavily blistered hands. Cat did her best to hold Jade back while her mother stood between the them.

"Cat," the redhead's mom said. "Take Jade to the car. Now."

The petite girl nodded diligently as she dragged her seething friend. In a last ditch effort, Jade grabbed a pair of scissors from the table and threw them at her mother, landing short of her by only inches. She yelled and cursed her the whole way until she was out the door and out of earshot.

"Renee," Cat's mom staring down at Jade's mom. "I'm taking your daughter to the hospital. Then I'm taking her home. To her real home."

"You can't do that; I have rights. She's my daughter, do you understand?"

Lydia Valentine held her finger to tell the woman to shut up. "Follow us or try to contact her and I _will_ call the police on you. Is _that_ understood?"

Ms. West just stood there speechless as Mrs. Valentine made her exit.

* * *

It was almost fifteen minutes before the teenage girl with second and possibly third degree burns was admitted into triage. The whole time in the waiting room, she was crying in the arms of the Valentines. No matter how things were bad, this was the first time that Jade felt completely hopeless. Her livelihood just went up in flames and she was ripped from yet another home. It took her time to realize that last point was for the best.

Any other day, she was thrilled to death to see Cat but Jade is brimming over with so much pain and anger she hardly noticed anyone around her. After being taken to the burn ward and treated, Jade cried herself to sleep in her private room. Fortunately it was mostly second degree burns; had she been in the fire any longer, the doctor would be talking skin grafts.

"Cat," her mom called to her half asleep daughter sitting in the chair near Jade. She was with her friend once again. Sadly, she was also broken once again.

"Cat, sweetheart; I'm going back to the house. Letting your father and your brother know what's going on. Okay?"

"Okay mom," Cat holding back her tears, trying to be brave for Jade in case she woke up any second. "Is it okay I stay?"

She nods. "She's been through a lot; she really could use the company." Mrs. Valentine walks over, kisses her on the head and strokes Jade's hair. "See you later, okay?"

"Bye, mom. And thanks."

"For what?"

"For making me go with you." Cat stared at her mother with watery eyes. The elder Valentine was getting misty as well.

"Just don't forget to get some sleep yourself. Those painkillers will probably have her out the rest of the night."

* * *

Cat positioned the chair so that she could cuddle into it with an extra blanket she found from the closet and still have a good view of Jade.

"It'll be okay, Jadey. I hope you have sweet dreams."

Within a minute, Cat closed her eyes and was asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

"Insane people are always sure that they are fine. It is only the sane people who are willing to admit that they are crazy." - Nora Ephron

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Jade moaned as she drifted out of sleeps and out of her medicated stupor. Her vision was stifled but she could make out a ruby-colored blur. She needed no convincing. Jade knew exactly what it was. Or who.

"cat…" her voice a faint blip on the sleeping redhead's radar. "cat…where…"

Jade unwittingly knocked over the nurse call remote attached by a cable to the bed. It had enough slack to crash to the floor. The sound surprised Cat and she nearly fell onto the floor herself.

"Jade?" she turned to see her friend's head moving side to side, confused.

"Cat?"

"It's me Jade," intertwining their fingers together. Her eyesight was improving mildly but having her this close helped a great deal.

"Oh, Cat. Where are we?"

"Jade you're in a hospital." She looked around for anyone coming in. "Do you remember anything?"

She looked down at her heavily bandaged hands and despite this went on to scratch the back of her head. A weird sensation made her stop immediately.

"Cat," gesturing toward the back of her head. "What is this?"

"Stitches."

Jade was thrown by all of this. She had these serious injuries and she could barely recall the night before. Slowly bits were creeping into Jade's mind. She remembered her mother standing over her menacingly. She remembered a struggle. She remembered a fire. She remembered the pain.

"My book!" Jade gasped, not fully on the mend to shout like her usual self.

Cat's lip quivered before giving her the bad news. "It's gone. It was lost in the fire. You tried to get it but it was too late," pointing at her bandaged hands.

Tears tumbled down the steep slope of the brunette's face. She closed her eyes in vain to halt an oncoming avalanche.

Jade was soon in the loving arms of her friend. She sobbed a lament for her book. To others it was just some pages held with steel rings but to her it was her life. Everything she had learned and been inspired by films were in this book. Her first script. It was going to be her first real movie and it was gone. She was nowhere near done but the thought of potentially starting over again depressed her.

_I don't have anything now_, Jade thought to herself.

"You still have us, Jade" Cat said with her eyes closed, still hugging her friend.

_Did I say that out loud? Did she sense what I was thinking?_ Jade felt guilty about harboring such a feeling back there.

* * *

The rest of the Valentine clan came to visit and showered their virtual second daughter with flowers and cards and kind words and above all, their company. Jade's own mother never made the time for her and when she did, it was far from pleasant.

Sometime after the others left to get something to eat, Lydia stayed behind to have a talk with Jade.

"Jade," her hand placed lovingly on the injured girl's visage. "You don't have to worry about your mother. Believe me."

"How do you know that?" Jade asked.

"She may be troubled but she's not stupid. We have enough evidence to put her away."

Jade shook her head. "I can't have my own mom arrested but at the same time I don't want to see her."

"And we completely understand and respect that."

She hugged Jade, comforting the girl as she sniffed and moistened her shoulder. What Lydia didn't tell her was that she found out that when Renee West had heard about her husband's death, she soon discovered that as a divorcee she was not entitled to his brand new life insurance policy. It was assigned to his only child and would sit in a trust fund until she became of age. Renee only wanted her daughter close so that she could control the money once Jade was old enough.

The important thing was that Jade was not going to have that money taken away from her; the last good thing her father could offer from beyond the grave, and she was out of that abusive home. What good was further damaging her opinion of her mother going to do?

"Oh," Lydia gleamed trying to change the subject. "I have something for you." She went over to her big purse and pulled out a stack of mail wrapped in a bow like the strangest present. "Here"

Jade adjusted her bed to sit up a little better and took the post. She leafed through the stack and stopped dead cold at one from Hollywood Arts. She was tempted to open it put set it aside.

"You sure you don't want to open that one?" Lydia asked.

"Not really," Jade shrugged.

"Sure? It might be important."

"Open it? I…can't…"

Lydia obliged and tore into the envelope and produced a single tri-folded sheet. It bore official HA heading and was a brief letter.

"Oh," Lydia holding her hand over her mouth. "Jade, I'm so sorry."

Jade gasped, holding back newly forming tears. She could feel her heart blowing apart like her binder.

"I'm sorry that once you finally get out of here you have to go to school," she grinned as wide as a human could possibly do.

"I got in?"

She nodded, absolutely glowing with pride. _Now I have _two_ girls who are going to be famous one day._ _I can feel it._

* * *

Some scars healed, others would in time. And a few others would never go away. However, this is the kind of hospital that concerns itself with the superficial type of pain than the latter so Jade West was primed for release.

Cat and her mother took the pale girl shopping for school. They had a discussion with the principal and luckily Hollywood Arts have a floating admittance policy whereby once you're accepted it is never void. As long as there is room you can enroll at any time. Seeing the circumstances, the principal decided to let Jade into the ninth grade.

Jade made a point to be in as many classes with Cat as possible. Unfortunately it only boiled down to two. The rest of the time, she had to fly solo.

She found the classes fascinating. Her English class did a shot by shot analysis of _Casablanca_ where they discussed the screenplay's merits. It was one of Jade's favorite courses, taught by Toni Warren, a former student of Robert McKee the famous screenwriting teacher.

Another one she enjoyed was history. Jade easily memorized dates and figures and people by thinking of history as a colossal story. Things motivated others; it was a progressive sequence of events just like in fiction.

Things like physical education and math were pretty standard. Jade couldn't wait for geometry where she knew a lot of it would come in handy when she would do setups whilst filming.

In Jade's graphic design class, the students were sitting rather bored listening to the teacher discuss the substance of visual advertising. She drifted off to sleep, knocking over her notebook. Reaching for it, a hand graced upon hers. Looking up to see where that hand belonged to sat a long-haired olive skinned boy. He looked back at her and smiled awkwardly.

"Hey," the handsome guy said, smiling.

"Thanks," Jade pulling a strand of hair back. "For trying to pick up my book."

"It's cool."

"You're new here, aren't ya?"

"Yeah," Jade nodded.

"You wouldn't happen to know Cat, would you?"

"You know her?" Jade asked genuinely.

"I have a couple classes with her and she talks about her girlfriend Jade."

"Oh, that's me" Jade chuckled. "But she's not my girlfriend. I mean she's my friend but we're not like that. Not that there's anything wrong with that…."

"Good to know," the boy smiled showing teeth.

"Jade," extending her hand. "You know my name. how about yours?"

"Beck."

"Beck?" Jade thinks about it in her head. It went quite well with her name. "I like it."

"Well now I can finish my day," he grinned madly.

_A sense of humor, too. Go easy girl._

"Hey, do you wanna hang out?" Jade attempting poorly to make the nervousness in her voice.

"And do what?"

"Maybe get a cup of coffee?"

Beck rolled his eyes. "What a cliché."

"No it's not! You obviously haven't been paying attention to Cat if you don't know about my love affair with coffee."

"Okay," he says. "I'd like that. "


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: You guys are the best! Yours reviews for the last chapter made my Saturday. **

**Big ups to the newest recruits: BADExxxxxFOREVER, Chachee, Ellie425, hssmith79, LuvBadeForever, Ravenstar01, and tmrox14. You guys who follow and (I still don't understand) decide to make my story one of your favorites just gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. **

**And to those who follow me as an author (you know who you are) I hope I don't disappoint now and in the future.**

**BADE has finally shown its shadow. I hope you all love this chapter. I spent longer on this chapter than any other one so far in this story. I wanted it to be just right because you're all worth it ;-)**

* * *

"Actors can be a terrible bore on the set, though I enjoy having dinner with them." - David Lean

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Beck and Jade sat at the generous café on the other side of the Cornerstone Bookstore. It was a small table perfect for two next to the railing bisecting the coffee shop area and the book store proper. From this vantage they can see the magazines, graphic novels and a little corner of the bargain shelves.

"I got to be honest," Beck sipped his coffee and set it down. "When you said we were going to get coffee I thought you were kidding."

"I never kid about my coffee," Jade glared at him.

"So how long have you been drinking?"

"Since I was eleven or twelve. Snuck some from my dad when he left for work. I've loved it ever since."

"It's invaluable back home; keeps you warm."

"I just like that it keeps me alert."

"And just what are you up to? A secret job at night or something?"

Jade shook her head. "No, more of a project."

"Is it confidential?" Beck rubbing his hands together eagerly awaiting an answer.

"Well, some think it's stupid."

"People like that don't matter," he said seriously.

"What if I said those people included my parents?" Jade's eyes were downcast.

"Hey," he shook her arm and she lifted her head up. "I didn't mean it like that. It's just if they cared about you, they wouldn't make you think your dreams were stupid. Now what is it?"

"I…want to write and direct…"

"…like movies?"

Jade nodded. "Yeah," dragging out the single word.

"Cool."

"What?"

"That's pretty awesome. Do you know what kind of movies you want to make?"

"Well, I hadn't given it a lot of…sorry, did you say 'cool?' "

"I don't see anything wrong with wanting to be a storyteller. Have you made anything yet?"

"A short film; well it's not really a film but…"

"I would like to see it."

"When?"

"How about my place? I'll barbeque for us and you bring the entertainment."

"Dinner and a movie?" Jade smirked. "Now who's being cliché?"

"What if I told you I lived in a trailer in my parent's driveway?"

Jade widens her eyes. "Now we're talking."

* * *

Cat sat behind Jade, brushing her hair. The redhead is grinning like a fool more so than usual.

"I think this is great, Jade."

"You're pulling my hair, Cat."

"Sorry," she giggled. "I'm just so happy for you. Oh my god, we should totally go on a double date."

"Oh yeah, and who are you gonna go with?"

"I was thinking about…" her gaze into nothingness was very familiar to Jade.

"Not the boy with the puppet again."

"I think he's adorable," her face got very serious and her tone defensive.

"Yeah, if you look past that annoying dummy."

"He is pretty mean."

"Just say the word, babe and I'll tie his arms and legs to four different dogs and send them running."

"HA HA HA, Jade you're so dark."

Cat stopped, indicating to Jade that she's done.

"You like him, don't you?"

"He's okay," Jade not wanting to go deeper.

Cat nodded and went to help Jade with her makeup.

* * *

Jade got dropped off by Lydia at the Oliver residence.

She walked up the drive and indeed there was an airstream unhitched in front of the house. The modest tailgate barbeque was smoking. The door popped open, surprising Jade.

"Hey," Beck smiled while holding a plate.

"Hey yourself." Jade regards the giant metallic Twinkie parked in the driveway. "You were serious about the trailer."

"Yup, wanna come inside? I'll give you the grand tour."

Beck stepped into the trailer and guided Jade in by the hand. Jade lost her footing on the big step on the way in and she's caught by Beck, or to be more process, his chest. His hands take her arms and helps her to her feet.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"I promise despite that we're very safe in here."

"That a fact?"

"Windows are bulletproof," he smiled knocking the panel.

"Why are they…" Jade began.

"My dad bought this from one of those tax seizure auctions. I found out who originally owned it. Fat Biscuit."

"The rapper? That's nuts."

"When I found that out, the tints and bulletproof glass made more sense."

Jade looked around at the "interior decorating." _Charming. _

"So," he turned toward Jade. "Did you bring it?"

"Yes," reluctantly fishing the DVD from her purse.

"Sweet. Well, dinner's gonna be a little bit so make yourself at home and TV's over there."

Beck ran out the door to tend to the grill. Jade put her bag down and kneeled down in front of the little 21-in. TV with the DVD player lying next to it. Once she figured out his setup, she queued up her movie so it would be ready.

Jade took a deep breath. "You can do this, Jade."

* * *

"How's your burger?" Beck asked.

Jade nodded, chewing. "Good," she answered muffled.

"It come out alright; medium?"

She held up her hand to tell him to stop asking questions.

"So, how about we watch that movie of yours?"

Jade swallowed and looked at him hard. "I told you, it's only a short."

"And I'm just trying to tell you that I was promised entertainment."

"Can't we do something else?"

Beck acts like he's considering it and then says, "No."

Jade lets out an exaggerated groan and starts the DVD player. She went back and sat down, Beck's arm around her.

The film began with an artist painting a room. Though they were still pictures, the narrative progressed with a rhythm that created the illusion of movement. The painter worked on the scene, every time we would fade in and out a new addition was made to the painting. In the final few seconds it is revealed that the painter at work was the masterpiece all along. We zoom out from the artist finished and see the image being hung on the wall of a gallery.

When the film ended, Jade squirmed at Beck's silence. She sunk down until she laid on the floor.

"Where are you going?" he asked, smiling.

"Hiding."

"Why?"

"It wasn't very good," she crossed her arms.

Beck bend down over Jade and there was something about the light and the nervousness she felt at that moment where she really saw how beautiful he was. She felt the urge to do something right then and there but something was hesitating her from crossing that threshold.

"I loved it," his voice soft and sincere. "It was wonderful."

That did it.

Jade clasped her hands around his neck, using him to pull herself up until their lips met. She kissed sweetly and slowly until she could feel him kiss back. They would have different opinions about how long that first kiss lasted but they agreed on one thing…

"Wow," he whispered.

"Whoa," she whispered back.

…it wouldn't be the last.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: I am getting more excited as I write now that we have achieved BADE and all the shippers are coming aboard. For those that have been around since the beginning; thank you. **

**Sorry but this chapter is a little on the short side. I felt it better to ends it when I did. Thematically, it was better to make what happened next it's own thing.**

* * *

"You'd like to think you're pretty much an original, everything about yourself distinctive and individual. But it is surprising to realize to what extent you echo your family, and how, from childhood, you have been shaped and molded..." - George Cukor

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After Jade started dating Beck, her attitude seemed to shift. She found her life being charted exactly as she wanted. She was on the track to becoming everything she dreamed of and she had the best friend and boyfriend to share it all with. Anything and anyone else was just looked upon as in the way people.

That being said, she quickly became highly protective of her new station in life. Any random girl who talked to Beck got the business and a certain ventriloquist named Robbie Shapiro was consistently kept in his place from the moment Jade saw how he looked at Cat. Nobody was going to hurt or otherwise tear asunder herself or any of the key people around her.

Jade was especially hostile when it came to strangers. Anyone intruding on her personal space was unwelcome but an unfamiliar face was just asking for trouble.

Despite being the occasional recipients of this wrath, Beck and Cat were permissive of her little episodes. She hasn't had an easy go and what's more, her own family had failed her. It's understandable she would be a little suspicious of newcomers.

But nothing compared to what happened in her sophomore year. If Jade's rage was a furnace; Victoria Vega lit the pilot.

"Dude, why are you rubbing on my man?" Jade's eyes ablaze with quick flashes of possible redemption.

The girl looked like a deer caught in headlights. "I was just…"

Jade leaned in closer, more intently "Get away from him."

The new classmate obliged contritely.

As the class progressed with Sikowitz leading the crowd, Jade selected classmates to do an acting exercise which included Ms. Tori.

There was a menacing look in her eyes, Beck observed. Something didn't sit right with him about that look she had. For a moment, Beck didn't think she would go there but she actually went that far, cashing in on the opportunity to douse Tori in a cup of cold coffee. He couldn't believe what he just saw. It disgusted him so much that he didn't return her calls and texts for the rest of the day.

The next day, Beck kept on avoiding Jade. It became hard not to interact with the blue-green eyed girl when they were collected once again in an acting exercise; this time they had to use the alphabet to improvise. Tori bit back when Jade barked until she was out of the game, leaving her and Beck. When Tori, in character, suggested that they kiss; Beck read her mind. It wasn't about him but about making Jade squirm. He was still out off by the request but figured the girls needed to be even.

* * *

"What the hell was that about?" Jade came up behind Beck seated at the Asphalt Café, a mess of tables overlooked by the school.

"Oh, hey babe" he grinned like he was expecting a halo to manifest above his head.

"Oh," Jade deeply uttered as she dropped her bag to sit beside him. "_Now_ you feel like talking?" Beck just stared at her, trying to suppress a laugh. "I'm waiting!"

"For what, honey?"

"Cut the shit, Oliver. What was going on with you and Miss Priss?"

"Mmm, sorry I don't know any Prisses."

"Will you stop trying to be cute," this time Jade was yelling. "And just tell me what the hell were you thinking?"

Beck cleared his throat. "I was disappointed with the way you just went off on this Tori girl. She didn't deserve that."

"Oh, so you took it upon yourself to give her something you thought she _did_ deserve?"

"That wasn't for either of our benefit. Tell you the truth, between you and me, she doesn't know what she's doing."

That didn't make Jade feel better like Beck had hoped, so he continued.

"It was meant to get a rise out of you. You just dump your coffee on this girl who really did nothing to you and you were surprised that there were consequences?"

"Nice. You two made a nice little team."

"Hey, trust me. She doesn't look at me the way you always do. There is such a thing as a girl who doesn't want me. Or maybe" he makes a big fake gasp. "Somebody is actually not conspiring against you!"

"You know about my trust issues," Jade glared.

"Yeah, I do." He gets up to leave. "Wonder how long it will be until you have to box me out. Or Cat for the matter."

Jade was alone with her thoughts but she really wasn't. her mother's voice crept into her head.

_This isn't normal, Jade!_

_It's pathetic._

_I hope you're prepared to be very lonely._

Fuck, she thought.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: New followers: hssmith79, JessyRae, KIMMIK100, and prima-dana. Welcome aboard!**

**Three people that favorited that I think I forgot to mention before: DannyBoo511, tmrox14 and tsukimonse. You rock!**

**For the four that reviewed the last chapter, THANKS. I was a little nervous about that one. I didn't care for it at first but you convinced me I made the right call. **

**Oh, and Cottenpopcorn, don't worry one to two days is my normal frequency. **

* * *

"In the end, people have to learn to live together." - Terry Gilliam

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Beck and Jade had made up since their tiff. And even she made (albeit very slow) progress toward Tori. But there still hung a hostility that Jade sometimes couldn't control. Every now and then, she would do or say something callous to Cat or Beck or Tori or her best friend Andre Harris and then wander off, contemplating why she would treat them so badly.

There was a part of her subconscious that was testing these people in her life; seeing just how much they could take of her shit. Sometimes it would have disastrous effects. She and Beck broke up formally twice and too much aggression would send Cat running or make her faint.

But despite it all, even though she got it the worst, the only constant was Tori Vega. Whenever she had a problem with…anything at all…she would be the first to try and help. Jade had done more in the past two years to make herself an antagonist but Tori continued to pursue the pipedream that the two of them could become the best of friends.

What others saw as an idealistic, can-do attitude Jade saw as injustice. She had to struggle her whole life for the simplest things and not only did practically everything come easy to this Vega girl but she plays it off as not taking anything for granted. Maybe deep down she looked at this nice girl and thought about how her parents were likely to stay together or how she was encouraged with her talent consistently, or seemed to attract the positive energy of those around her.

_Why not me_?, Jade thought angrily. _It wasn't fair! She should know what it's like for things not to go her way. She should be knocked down a few pegs. She deserved to be unhappy, maybe even miserable, for once. Maybe twice._

Jade dropped her coffee when she bumped into Tori in the halls.

"Damn it!" her interjection bounced off the walls.

"Sorry, Jade" Tori contorted her face in preparation for some kind of wrath.

Jade held up her two index fingers. "Don't be sorry, Vega. Just learn to watch where you're going!"

Tori then began to scramble on the floor, looking for something. Jade glances over and sees a purple folder that must have slid when they collided. She picked it up and opened it.

"Jade!"

The pale girl ignored the half Latina's shouting. She proceeded to read what was inside the folder. It was some sheet music with lyrics broken up by syllable scrawled underneath the notes.

"Jade, please give it back."

Tori wandered behind Jade who was deep into the composition as they walked outside.

"Will you relax," Jade whips around, causing Tori to stop suddenly. "What is this?"

"It's a song," she said.

"Brilliant, I can see that."

"I need that for class," Tori whined. Jade couldn't stand whining.

"You wrote this," Jade tilted her head quizzically.

Tori nodded.

"By yourself? No Andre this time?"

Tori smiled and shrugged.

"It shows," Jade giggled.

"Why are you so nasty to me?" Tori gripped the folder while Jade hung on.

"It's just a stupid song; get over it." Her eyes narrowed in annoyance.

The two engage in a brief tug of war with the purple folder.

"Let go, " Tori gritted through her teeth.

"No," Jade, refusing to relinquish it. "What are you embarrassed?"

"Just…stop…"

The moment Jade got bored and let go, Tori's pull sent the folder flying onto the grass where it was devoured by the janitor's massive lawnmower. Even if there was time to warn him, he wouldn't have heard because of his headphones blaring.

Tori dropped to her knees, picking up the shredded remains. A wind kicked up and sent the majority of it flying away. Her face was one of absolute defeat and despair. Jade couldn't help but see someone familiar in that broken girl.

"Tori," her voice grew soft in a flash. "I…don't…"

"Just leave me alone, okay." Tori sat on the ground with her knees tucked to her chest. As Jade began to walk away, she could hear her sobbing.

* * *

Beck was disturbed from his TV show with a knock on his trailer door. It was Jade and she had been crying. He takes her by the hand and sits her down, arm draped around her.

"What's wrong?"

"I messed up, Beck." Her breathing was sporadic. It was the first thing she uttered since she stopped crying, however long ago that was. "I fucked up real bad."

"Tell me what happened."

"It's ...Tori," she slowly began. "Oh, god. I really did it this time." Jade shook her head incessantly.

"What did you do?" his tone was at odds with whether to be sympathetic or reprimanding.

"It's not…what I've done but what I've been _doing_."

Jade held her head in her hands and shook all over. "It really happened," she said.

"What, babe?"

"I've become my fucking mother! All this time and I never saw it. Not until today."

Jade played out the scenario for Beck. While he was understandably put off by how horrible she managed to make Tori feel, at the same time he was bemused by how hard she was taking it.

"Baby," Beck hugged her. "Cat told me about your mother a long time ago. Believe me, you're nothing like her."

"Are you being serious right now? I'm the spitting image."

"I don't think…"

"Did Cat ever tell you about how she used to beat me and verbally and psychologically whittle me down?"

Beck's face was evidence that Cat was sketchy with the details. No surprise.

"How about the night when she got so pissed off, she told me my dreams were worthless and then threw my script into the fireplace?"

Beck was speechless though his eyes were speaking volumes.

"For two years, I tortured her. And for what? To make myself feel a little better? Make me forget my own shortcomings?"

Beck grabbed her shoulders and locked eyes with Jade. "You listen to me," he never sounded like this before. "You're nothing like her and here's why. You're going to make this up to Tori."

"How? What can I do to make this right?"

"I don't know, Jade. But you need to think of something."

* * *

Beck walked Jade up to the Vega residence and she knocked on the front door.

Tori opened, hair tied back and with glasses on. She seemed genuinely surprised to see Jade.

"What do you want, Jade?" Tori's voice was hurt but she feigned strength in case this encounter went south.

"I was wondering…if you needed…some help with writing a new song." Jade's eyes were trying real hard not to cry in front of Tori.

"Thanks, Jade but I have to do this by myself."

"Please, Tori. I really want to help you."

"She does," Beck added.

Tori shrugged, "Okay. Come on in."

"I'll leave you ladies to it," Beck said and closed the door.

Tori and Jade just stared at each other for an uncomfortable two minutes.

"You know you really hurt me today. More so than that time you took my blood."

Jade looked around, startled by that. "You knew about that?"

"Come on, Jade. I'm not _that_ naïve. What hospital loses blood like that?"

Jade stared at the floor, not knowing what to say next.

"Jade," Tori sitting down on the couch. "I was able to let much of what you say or do to me roll off my back because even though your reactions were ganky, there was always a logic. I may not expect your reaction but I was able to follow where it came from. But this…why?"

The black-haired girl wiped fresh tears with her palm.

"It's a long story."

"It's gonna be a long night," Tori matter-of-factly stated. "Sit."

* * *

Jade and Tori talked for hours, crying and comforting one another much of the time. Tori learned about Jade's situation leading up to her living with Cat's family. Jade understood better herself, too. She had come to know that Tori's song was inspired by a childhood friend who passed. Tori never mentioned him before and it made Jade sad that someone as sweet natured as her could go through such a loss as a grade schooler.

When the heavier conversation was waning and they were going to a more lighthearted place, the pair began working on the song. Jade being the writer focused on the lyrics while Tori spearheaded the melody.

It was around six in the morning when they finally finished.

"You think it's good enough," Jade yawned.

"I think it actually turned out better than the first one," Tori smiled.

"Good," Jade's last words before collapsing onto the sofa. A slight snore told Tori that it didn't take long for her to fall asleep. Tori covered up her friend with a blanket and went up to her room to catch up on some sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

"If you want to make a movie, make it. Don't wait for a grant, don't wait for the perfect circumstances, just make it." - Quentin Tarantino

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Jade had an itch in the back of her mind for a couple years now to gout and make her opus. It had been a tumultuous ride and she has hesitated to get back in the saddle ever since her first script literally went up in smoke. After that, Jade rarely put pen to paper in the form of a story.

But her late night songwriting session with Tori inspired her. Jade and her circle of classmates have collaborated in the past from performing to a bunch of toddlers dressed up as oversized foodstuffs to making a short film that bore the name of some Hollywood hack.

During that night, when Tori excused herself to use the bathroom, Jade noticed a Word file sitting on its own on the desktop of the Pearbook she was typing on. Tori's Pearbook. It was the script for that project she was writing with Beck, Cat and Andre all while being trapped on a plane with her sister. And despite all that, the ten-page script was damn good.

Tori walked back in, asking Jade "What's up?"

"I didn't know you knew screenplay format, Vega" Jade looked up from the glowing screen.

"Oh, that. Yeah got a B+ on it."

"It's better than that."

"Thanks, Jade. That means a lot coming from you."

"Please," she said leaning back on the floor in front of the couch. "I may have dabbled but I'm no Charlie Kaufman."

"Who?"

"_Being John Malkovich_?"

Tori shook her head.

"_Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind_?"

The Latina shrugged.

"God, you're sheltered. So, have you ever thought of writing like a full length story?"

"As a matter of fact…" her words trailed off as the girl ran off. Within a matter of minutes Tori came back with a black and white composition book. She handed it to Jade and she cracked it open. Tori sat and watched for fifteen minutes as Jade leafed through the wide ruled pages. "I had the idea in my head ever since out trip to Yerba."

Jade shuddered at the mention of that awful place.

"And I guess," Tori continued. "My imagination got the better of me."

It was a series of prose passages broken up here and there with snippets of dialogue and occasional sketches. _Crude sketches_. After combing several random pages, Jade placed the book on her lap and looked at her friend.

"I think we might have something here but it's gonna need work."

* * *

Tori and Jade worked during lunch and after school when they could making adjustments to what would become a real screenplay. Jade was getting more excited with every scene that went in the can. It was slowly coming together.

They knew where they wanted to start and where to finish but the middle gave them trouble. Jade came up with a solution she remembered from one of her screenwriting books. It started with having their vision for the ending and then working their way back until it met with the progress made by the beginning.

That way there was a natural sequence of events. One thing led to another. About halfway through the process, it was decided that they were going to go for the comedic route. The more the wrote, the more they realized how insane the whole thing was.

"People are gonna laugh," Tori sighed.

"Okay," Jade grinned. "Then that's what we'll have them do!"

* * *

After two solid months of work, Jade and Tori had 114 pages of movie. Beck, Cat, Robbie and Andre were the first to read it in Jade's room. They made a handful of copies; they kept it down to only a few until the copyright went through. The silence was often broken up with Cat's infectious giggling.

"This is great," Andre said.

"I can't wait to see it," Robbie added.

Beck stood up and put his arms around Jade. "Oh, I think we're gonna be seeing it sooner than we think."

"What do you say?" Jade asked.

Jade stood stoic while Tori smiled widely and pleaded.

"When do we start?" Andre stood.

"Next…" Tori turned to Jade. "Weekend? Right?"

Jade nodded. "Yeah. Gives us time to prepare. Lot of scheduling to do; lot of planning."

"Cat can do the costumes," Tori pointed.

"Robbie will be camera operator and special effects," Jade turned to the puppeteer. "I will be the second camera."

Tori was getting as excited as Jade. "Andre can do the music and…what else…what else…"

"Actors?" Robbie suggested.

"Right," Tori shouted. "Wow, we have a lot of parts to cast."

"Yeah we do," Jade laughed.

* * *

People started to file out as the afternoon turned into early evening. Jade held onto Beck. Cat also stayed behind.

"I want to talk to you," Jade told Beck in a sultry tone. She turned to her best friend. "Cat, go to your room."

"Kay kay!" the redhead skipped out of sight and Jade shut the door behind her, locking it.

"What…what are we doing?" Beck asked nervously.

"I'm…I dunno…I just want you right now." Her fingers traversed up and down his stomach and chest.

"Like that?"

Jade nodded, "Mmm, yeah."

"What about Cat's parents."

"They're gonna be gone until the next morning. And Cat can distract herself."

"Just us," bringing her closer to him.

"Just us."

"You're sure you're ready?"

"Why are you?"

"Yeah," Beck rubbed the back of his neck. "Have been for a while. Who wouldn't be?"

"Well don't you know how to make a girl feel special."

Beck did a double take when in half a second Jade had removed his belt from the loops of his pants, tossing it across the room. The belt buckle made a ching when it hit the hardwood floor.

Jade's eyes and smile became more femme fatale. "I guess we'll see, won't we?"


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: You might have noticed that I have changed the rating to M. After you read the chapter, you'll see why.**

**Enjoy, you Baders!**

* * *

"Sex is boring unless you're doing it." - Ridley Scott

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Their awkward kidding around led to them falling onto Jade's bed. Beck hovered over his girlfriend and smiled, not believing his good fortune. To be alone with this enchantress and to have her all to himself.

"You're so beautiful," he whispered.

"And you're so…heavy." Jade smiled back. Beck laughed at that.

They both teased their mouths by planting small, sweet kisses on their faces and necks, avoiding the obvious targets. When Jade did it, Beck's lips reached out desperately for contact like a fish on dry land. And when he did it, she responded the same way.

Jade wrapped her arms tightly around his back and rolled the both of them over, making her in the dominant position. From her straddled stance, Jade grinded into Beck. With every push, he moaned and she sighed. Jade reached into her back pants pocket and produced a shiny object. It too a second for Beck's eyes to roll back into their proper position for him to focus and see what it was.

A pair of scissors.

"Whoa," he gulped. "Babe, what are you…"

"Just shut up," she demanded. "And hold still."

Jade opened the scissors and with one half, traversed the length of his shirt. From his neck down to where his pants began, Beck's chest crept through the parting fabric. When she was satisfied, Jade threw the scissors onto the floor and finished ripping apart the shirt.

She went down on his bare flesh and made some love bites on his torso. Beck bites his lip.

"Does it hurt?" Jade asked.

"Ddd…don't…stop," he mumbled.

"Good answer."

Jade lifts up her shirt, exposing her black bra underneath. She was pleasantly startled by Beck's rising up and sucking on her neck while cupping one of her soft breasts. She lost herself in the ecstasy of that sweet spot being attended to but he stopped after a couple minutes to begin unzipping his pants.

Jade responded in kind with slowly lowering her jeans. Being on her knees forced her to wiggle her butt to assist the undressing. To Beck she was trying to be sexy even if that wasn't the intent. After a certain point, Jade collapsed on her derriere and this time she purposefully removed the remainder of her pants with a stripper's suspense.

They stare at one another in their skivvies, impressed by what they see.

"What?" Jade giving a cross look.

"You need a tan, babe"

"Oh yeah? And you need to work out," grinning her evil grin.

Beck took her in his arms; he could tell she was getting excited with her tense face and heavy breathing. "I'm gonna get you for that."

"You got me, so what are you going to do?"

Beck steps off the bed gently while holding his little piece of heaven in his arms. Once standing on the floor, he lowers her onto the bed. While laying down, Jade begins to slip off her matching black panties. Beck was so dazed that he forgot that was his cue. He dutifully began slipping off his boxers.

_What an actor, _he thought. _Found my mark and missed my cue. Idiot._

The was Beck's first time; looking upon Jade's nakedness, he couldn't think of anything that was not beautiful to him. It was like the girl of his dreams fell out of his head.

It was Jade's first time, too. She thought his musculature and height was just enough. Too much would've looked silly. She doesn't care for too many muscles like the lunkheads at the gym she goes to with Cat. He was perfect in her eyes. Her gaze wandered down and even though she had nothing to compare it to, Beck's was clearly very happy to see her.

Beck was a little nervous when he caught Jade looking at him down there. He thought his size was at least average. This was as exposed as he could get and Jade is not known for being overtly polite. He stood in suspense for what she would say next.

"Come over here and we'll see if you deserve to carry that, stud."

_Good answer_.

Beck crept on top of Jade.

"On top of the covers?" he asked.

"Why, don't think I'll keep you warm?"

She was right. Their bodies pressed together and it was like igniting a wildfire. Perhaps the neighborhood should spray down their houses in anticipation just like those people that live in the hills. Their combined passion was enough to level this group of houses.

Beck lowered himself down to her virgin peach and gave it a long lick. The warmth felt on the surface of her very aroused passion sent shockwaves through Jade's body. He played with her down there for a while, the anticipation of penetration was killing her. After so many minutes, she couldn't stand it any longer and grabbed him by his luscious hair. He got the hint and was eye to eye with her again.

"I'm ready."

"Okay," Beck said. "Just…let's go slow."

"Let me do it."

Jade grabbed the throbbing member and guided it to the right place. _This isn't like that time you wanted to experiment but ultimately chickened out with the vibrator. There was a boy, a man, attached to it. They say it hurts so take it easy._

It was an intense several minutes of back and forth until with an audible wince, Beck was inside of Jade. It hurt. It continued to hurt but as time went the unpleasant pain started to manifest into that _good_ it started to feel real good. Too good.

"Hold up," Jade put up her hands on his chest, telling him to stop.

"What's wrong?"

"Go into my nightstand drawer. Now."

Beck obliged, slowly exiting her warm and juicy domain, and made it swiftly to the nightstand. He produced a condom, and smiled at her.

"Good thinking," Beck said. "I didn't have any with me."

"Wait. I thought you guys always had one in your wallet."

"That's a myth," slipping on the rubber and crawling back on the bed. "I have cards that won't scan anymore. I'm not gonna trust what sitting in a dusty wallet will do to a condom."

"Now, where were we," Jade putting her arms around his neck.

"I think I know."

* * *

They fucked her almost a half hour. Their hands explored their bodies. Beck was nervous because he really wanted to make her come so he tried his best to hold back his own orgasm from ending it. But her delicate touch and the how good it felt was too much and he shouted in total bliss. Beck collapsed on Jade and she scratched his back, making white lines.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I was trying to…"

"I did."

"Really?"

"That's where you guys are at a disadvantage. You can only get your rocks off one way. For me it's been building all day and this was just the finale."

"Whoa," he whispered.

"That's right, whoa."

Beck rolled onto his back and Jade snuggled close to him. Their arms embraced each other. If Jade held Beck any tighter she'd be in back of him. Jade looked down at his feet.

"Weren't you wearing socks?"

"Yeah, I think I was." He smiled and chuckled. "I guess you knocked them off."

"Now _that's_ how you make a girl think she's special."

The two held each other, kissing and whispering their love until they fell asleep.

* * *

Early the next morning, before the sun could come up but the sky was turning various hues, the front door opened.

Jade woke up with a shot, "Oh shit they're home!"

Beck got up just as fast and quickly put on his pants and held his shoes and shirt.

"Beck?" Jade shout-whispered.

"What?"

"You're not wearing your boxers."

"Uh," as he wandered to the window. "Keep 'em."

"Keep them?"

Jade shakes her head and stuffs the boy boxers into the pocket of the sweatpants she just slipped on. Beck was already at the window, ready to jump out.

"Hey, kiss me you crazy Canadian!"

Beck smiled and gave her a nice kiss.

"Remember, Beck; you're reading for Terry tomorrow."

"You know, this better not ruin my reputation."

"What do you mean?" Jade folded her arms.

"I don't want to be thought of the actor who got the part because he slept with the director."

"Too bad," Jade pushing him out. he lands on his feet like a Cat and vanishes into the growing dawn.

Jade holds herself, smiling widely and swaying, letting out a loud squeal.

For a second, Cat's parents thought that was their daughter.


	16. Chapter 16

"The most honest form of filmmaking is to make a film for yourself." - Peter Jackson

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On the first Saturday of spring, Jade's movie began its pre-production proper with a casting call. Robbie and Sinjin passed out the flyers advertising the casting of the yet-to-be-titled feature debut of Jade West. Her occasional short film that surfaced won her a lot of respect from her classmates so it didn't take long for word to get around.

Within weeks, it was the first day of shooting. Beck's character was to have dinner with his brother before going off to war. It was the first scene on the first day shot.

"How are we on lights?" Jade yelled.

Sinjin gave the thumbs up from above. "Lookin' good, boss lady."

"Sinjin, what did I tell you about that nickname of yours?"

The lanky boy hung his head down, caressing the switchboard. "That you would beat me senseless with your clapboard."

"Good boy," she pointed.

Jade proceeded to her production manager / script girl.

"Tor, where are we with these extras?"

"Already taken care of," Tori smiled. "I gave them some prompts for conversations so it would seem real."

"Won't that interfere with the sound recording?"

"Nope, I gave them instructions to mouth their words. We can always add ambiance later."

"You're a genius," Jade hugged her friend and co-writer. "Have you seen Cat?"

"Over there," Tori pointed toward "B" Camera.

"Cat!" Jade ran toward the redhead.

"Oh, hey Jade!"

"How was that tailoring?"

"Fine. I shortened the sleeves. No more last minute replacements?"

"I think we're okay. Thanks." She hugged the little girl tightly, shaking a squeal of delight out of her. "Now, find your mark. You're in this scene."

"Oh, my god; what are my lines?"

Jade sighed, hands on hips. "Tori has the script. Check with her."

"Kay kay!" she skipped away.

"That is not how we rehearse!" Jade shouted across the room.

"Sorry!" Cat yelled back.

Jade looked through the viewfinder of "B" Camera and satisfied with the angle, goes to her usual spot behind "A" camera.

"Robbie!"

"Yo!" the boy responded.

"Sound?"

"We're good to go."

"Alright everybody," Jade's voice loud enough for everyone to hear. "In front of the camera, be ready! Everyone else, be quiet. Here we go!"

Tori ran in front of Jade's field of vision, holding a clapboard with freshly scrawled chalk. "Untitled Jade West Project. Scene 15. Take 1."

"And…ACTION!" called the raven-haired martinet.

* * *

"Alright," Tori shouted. "That's a wrap. We'll see you tomorrow!"

Tori stepped down from the chair she used to make herself higher for the announcement and found Jade huddled over her laptop.

"Hey."

"Hey," Jade responded, not looking up from the screen.

"How's it looking so far?"

"Pretty good. I can have most of this scene cut for tomorrow. Wanna watch?"

"You want to show it to me?" Tori grinned, excitedly.

"Well, yeah. You're my script supervisor. I need you for continuity."

"Thanks," she said sitting beside Jade.

"For what?"

"For saying that you need me."

"And mushy delivery like that is why you're _behind_ the scenes."

Tori punched her director in the shoulder.

"You want some coffee?" Tori asked.

"YES!" Jade dragged out that single word.

"I'll make sure they have some tomorrow also."

"Please. Who in their right mind brings donuts but NO coffee? I was running on empty all day. Only reason I was able to function was because I cared about the project."

"I think it's gonna be great."

"It just might be. Truth; just finishing it would be enough for me."

"Why?"

"Because it meant that I finally made it, you know?"

Tori nodded. "You're not at all concerned over the quality?"

"Of course I'm trying to make the best movie possible! But if you're asking me if I give a damn what others think; the answer is no. It's mine and that makes it perfect. Art is working on something until you like it and leaving it that way."

"I like that. Where'd you hear that?"

"Believe it or not, I saw it on a t-shirt."

* * *

For the rest of the spring and toward the end of the summer, Jade and her friends worked furiously on the movie now titled _The Show Must Go On_. It was a story of a Hollywood screenwriter that is kidnapped by the despot of a dictatorship country. The incumbent writes plays for his subjects and makes their attendance mandatory. When he sees how they didn't like the last one, he got desperate for what he was going to do next. When the writer, Terry Ross' last movie got screened in his country, the president knew he found his scribe to write a great play.

Beck played the writer and Cat the leader of the English-speaking acting troupe he has been given. Things get complicated when the two fall in love and the girl turns out to be the estranged daughter of the dictator. She refused to go into politics and chose to be an actress. To make things even more tricky, technically speaking the president's actions of kidnapping an American citizen (especially on American soil) would spark an international incident.

That being said, Terry's brother Alan is stationed with an international collective of soldiers overseeing the border of the very country he is held up in. Terry chooses to remain quiet on the situation because he doesn't need for the American and British troops on the border to be activated and for his brother to get hurt. Unfortunately, word eventually leaks out through social media and next thing the U.N. is allowing the forced entry into the nation.

The more time Terry spends with the president he realizes that the man isn't evil but blissfully ignorant. Which is why Jade thought Sikowitz would be perfect to play him. The despot only stayed in power because he thought he knew what was best for his country. Cat's character, Hala, shows Terry the poverty and crime of the capitol city. It was then he had an idea. The play wasn't going to be for the people but for the leader.

Like all great works of art, it brings new and important ideas to the surface. The dramatization of the plight of his denizens moves the president to tears and when the soldiers barge in on the auditorium where the play premiered, he surrenders and repents for his actions. As an act of contrition, the president steps down and allows the implementing of a democratic system. Upon his return from the U.N., he is given a hero's welcome for doing probably the best thing he's done in his whole administration.

And so the story ends with Terry and Hala running off to get married and obtaining dual citizenship so they move back and forth between her home and the States.

"And CUT! That's it!"

The last bit was shot at the climactic scene taking place at the theater for the play's premiere. The Black Box was too small for what Jade required so they found a massive auditorium at a nearby high school that seated several hundred. They got extras from Hollywood Arts, the other school and some random adults from off the street to fill the seats to make the scene nice and big.

Everyone applauded at the announcement of the principal photography having come to an end. There might be a tiny bit of second unit work and pickups to still do (small things like close-ups).

Jade won't really know until she starts editing.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: This is the last chapter. I thought this would be the most logical place to end it. I wish I could go longer but any more chapters would be just meandering. Glad that a lot of people got into it and liked it. **

**Hope to see you all again soon. Have my next project coming up and I'm really excited about it. It will be my first challenge AND my first crossover ever. Check it out.**

**Everyone who has reviewed, followed and favorited have all been great! You guys continue to surprise and inspire me. Anyone among those precious few that have also written stories; I promise I will get to them in time. You have my word. **

**see you all later and again, thanks ;-)**

* * *

"Do whatever the fuck you want, even if it's wrong, and then tell about it with honesty. That is filmmaking to me...Success is fucking up on your own terms." - Guillermo del Toro

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Beck tried sleeping but the click-clacking feet away from him was preventing that.

"Babe," he whispered with his eyes shut. "Are you still working?"

Jade sat at the foot of the bed with her Pearbook in her lap. She was typing furiously and clicking her cursor pad. "Hmmm? What?"

"Jade," he checked the time on his phone. "It's two in the morning."

"Good, I still got time."

He crawled over to where she was. "What is that?"

"The website. I made a link on The Slap that leads to it. See? It has photos, synopsis, clips…"

Jade was so into what she was saying and doing she didn't notice the bed shifting from Beck standing up and closing the laptop.

"What are you…"

He picked her up and carried her to his bed.

"Wait, no, I have to…"

"Jade, that's enough for one day. Sleep."

"I just wanna…"

"I know. Sleep. Now."

"You…" Jade collapsed in her pillow and laid motionless.

He got behind her and stroked her hair until he too finally fell asleep.

* * *

The wrap party was held at Nozu. The cast and crew got together (for many the first time they saw each other since the movie) and had a great time. The evening ended with the premiere of the rough cut of _The Show Must Go On_.

It clocked at about 100 minutes and everyone stuck around until the end of the credits to catch their names going by. When it was all over, everyone applauded and all eyes were on the director who was hiding behind the sushi bar.

"Jade?" Tori found her cowering friend.

"Go away, Vega."

Tori furrows her brow. "Come on, what's up? Everyone's looking for you."

"Exactly. I forgot I don't really like attention."

"Probably a bad time to say that their waiting for a speech."

Jade's eyes shot poison toward the Latina. "NO."

"Please?"

"What has that ever changed my mind?"

"You want me to send Cat?"

"That's not fair."

"I know," Tori smiled.

"FFFFFFFFIIIIIINNNEEE."

Tori helped Jade to her feet and she emerges from behind the bar and everyone cheers for her, with Beck and Cat and their families in the forefront.

Jade raised her hand to tell everyone to calm down.

"Uh, okay" she put her hands together searching for the words. "If you told me years ago that I would be standing here with a finished film, I would have called you a goddman liar. "

Everyone chuckled.

"But," Jade grabbed a glass of water to busy her hands to look less obvious. "The part that I would have believed the least was that I would be surrounded by so many friends and family and people who months ago were just strangers. And all I can feel from this crowd right now is a lot of love. You really tried on this little movie of ours. And you can see it on the screen." Jade took a deep breath before continuing. "Even though some of us have creative aspirations, a lot of you out there do not. And that's not a shot. It's actually very moving to me. You did it because you saw how important it was to me." Jade began to tear up a little. "And I really love you all for that."

Beck stepped up and hugged her. Cat, her mom, and Tori soon followed.

Robbie raised his glass. "To the director."

Everybody holding a glass followed suit.

"And to anyone who doesn't like the movie…" Jade raised her water.

The whole house was brought down in a massive and unanimous "FUCK 'EM!"


End file.
